Quarter Chase
by That GF FAN
Summary: When Mabel loses her last quarter while buying some ice cream, Dipper goes on what he thinks will be a normal walk over to retrieve it. But of course, nothing is normal in Gravity Falls. Very loosely inspired by the cut out opening scene of Roadside Attraction from the Gravity Falls box set 7th disc cut scene reel.


Nothing says summer more then ice cream. The Ice Cream truck was just outside of the Mystery Shack and Dipper, Mabel and Soos were all in line for some. Mabel walks up to the Ice Cream truck window.

"Man, I bet you love listening to the ice cream truck song all day," she says to the ice cream man.

The ice cream man, with his tired looking eyes looks over to Mabel, "goodness no. I pray for death," he says staring off blankly.

"Oh…kay," says Mabel. "Anyways, I'll have two patriot sticks, one large poptopus, a tub of dough with extra caramel syrup, two chocolate swirls, one with sprinkles and a large ducktective pop please."

The ice cream man hands Mabel all her ice cream, "so is that for the 3 of you," he says in his raspy voice.

"Oh no, this is just for me. Dipper what do you want," says Mabel cheekily.

"I'll just take a regular vanilla cone please," he says.

"I'll have another Ducktective pop if you got one dude," says Soos

After giving them all their ice cream, the ice cream man looks over to Mabel, "that'll be $10.50 please," he says.

Mabel reaches into her pocket and pulls out the exact amount of change. Just as she's giving it to the ice cream man, a quarter falls and rolls away.

"Oh shoot that was my last quarter," she says.

"Hang on I'll get it," says Dipper running off.

"Uh, but Dipper I…."

"I'll be right back," he yells.

Mabel and Soos look at each other confused.

Dipper chases after the rolling quarter. Before he can grab it, a car drives by down the road and the quarter flies into the air and lands onto its roof.

"Oh come on," Dipper yells. He climbs into the golf cart and chases after the car.

He follows it straight though town until it pulls into Greasy's Diner.

Dipper climbs out of the golf cart and inches towards the car. He's almost there when a bird lands on it, grabs the quarter and flies off.

"You gotta be kidding me," he says. With a sigh, Dipper climbs back into the golf cart and chases after the bird.

He watches the bird fly around until it drops the quarter onto Old Man McGucket's hat.

Dipper pulls up to him and approaches, "Hey, old man McGucket. So, listen, there's uh, okay how do I put this into perspective?"

"Uh what," McGucket says.

"Um, well there's, you're gonna laugh at this, it's amazing how this happened and uh, there's a quarter on your hat that I need."

"Well why didn't you say so? This ain't the first time that's happened. One time my raccoon wife coughed up a penny and went right into my nose," he says.

"Ew," says Dipper.

"Here, if you look deep enough you can still see it," says McGucket. But the moment he tilts his head up to show Dipper the penny in his nose, the quarter falls off his hat and starts to roll away.

Dipper face palms, "There it goes, good luck getting that penny out of your nose McGucket," says Dipper as he runs off.

"Out? Why would I wanna get it out? It's been stuck in there ever since the hootenanny in 94," McGucket says as he crawls away.

Dipper follows the rolling quarter until it comes to rest by a tree. He reaches for it, only to have a squirrel grab it and run up the tree.

"Of course," Dipper says facepalming himself again.

Just then Dipper sees Pacifica walking by. He gets an idea.

"Hey Pacifica," he yells. Pacifica looks over to him.

"Dipper? What do you want?"

"Quick question, do you have a quarter I can borrow?"

Pacifica looks confused, "absolutely not. Who carries change with them? And anyways why do you need a quarter?"

"Well I need a quarter so that Mabel can pay for our ice cream, but a squirrel took it and now it's up there on that branch," says Dipper pointing to the squirrel.

"Wow. That's like the least weird thing I've heard you say this summer," Pacifica says.

"Well do you have a way of getting it down perhaps," asks Dipper.

"Well, I do have these," she says pulling out a packet of crackers.

Dipper grabs them from her, "these will work," he says.

"Hey for your information, those are imported crackers from Italy and are only supposed to be eaten with caviar," Pacifica yells.

"Ya, ya you're rich, no need to brag, anyways, here squirrel, come get the rich," "and slightly snobby," Dipper says whispering, "girl's crackers."

"What was that you whispered, huh," Pacifica yells. In the process, the squirrel gets startled and flings the coin away.

"Great, now look what you've done," Dipper yells. He runs off after the quarter.

"Me. You're the one who called me snobby in the first place. And hey, can I at least have those crackers back? They're not cheap you know!"

"Here, take them back," says Dipper throwing them. He then runs off.

Pacifica looks down at the crackers and then the squirrel. She takes a bite of one and gives the other to the squirrel, "hey, these taste way better without caviar on them," she says.

Back with Dipper, the rolling quarter eventually falls down a small hole in the ground.

Dipper is about to grab with when, "Don't touch that!" a familiar voice yells.

Dipper looks behind to see Wendy, "Wendy, what are you doing here," he asks.

"Well it's plaidypus hunting season and I'm just helping my dad set up a few traps," she says. "You almost ran into one I just set up you know."

Dipper looks over to the hole. There was a huge metal trap in the middle, "Well, good thing you stopped me," he says.

"So anyways, what are you doing here," Wendy asks.

"Well, me and Mabel were getting ice cream when she dropped her last quarter. So, I went after it but then a bird stole it, then a squirrel and now it's sitting in your trap. You think you could get it out for me," Dipper asks.

"Sure. I know how to get around one of these suckers," says Wendy. She grabs a large stick and carefully aims for the quarter in between the trap's trigger.

"Gently, easy does it," she says. Dipper watches as Wendy slowly starts to move the quarter out of the trap. She almost gets it out when….

"WENDY" a loud voice yells. It was her dad.

In the shock, Wendy's concentration is lost and the stick hits the trigger. The trap immediately closes on the stick and the quarter is once again flung into the air.

"Oh man, sorry dude," says Wendy.

"It's okay, I'll get it, thanks for your help Wendy," says Dipper as he runs off after the quarter.

Each time Dipper would get near the quarter, some animal would grab it and race off with it until they dropped it. Dipper chased a rabbit, a goose and even another squirrel. Finally, he caught a break.

The quarter finally landed next to and old oak tree. A familiar looking oak tree too.

"Oh my gosh, finally," Dipper yells. It looked like nothing would get in his way now.

But just as Dipper neared the tree, it suddenly started to rise out of the ground. Dipper watched helplessly as the quarter fell into the hole below the tree.

"Hang on a second, is that….?"

He was right. It was the tree entrance to the bunker him, Mabel, Soos and Wendy had explored earlier. Ford walked right out of it.

"Oh, greetings Dipper. I didn't fancy seeing you out here. What's going on," Ford asks.

"Hey Grunkle Ford. Well, I was after this quarter which landed next to that tree. But just as I was going to get it, you came out of the bunker and it fell down in it,"

"A quarter, why would you be after a quarter," says Ford.

"It's a long story. Anyways, is it okay if I go down there and get it," Dipper asks.

"I guess. Just be careful down there. Oh, and you'll need this," says Ford handing Dipper a flashlight, "see you back at the shack," he says walking off.

Dipper opens the bunker entrance up and heads downstairs. Sure enough there was the quarter. Dipper picks it up.

"Finally, now, lets get back to the shack you. I got some ice cream to eat," says Dipper to the quarter.

Dipper heads back towards the exit, but the opening switch won't work. Dipper switches it over and over but to no avail. He inspects around and notices a fuse had blown.

"Great, now how will I get out," he says. Dipper walks back down into the bunker and looks around. Soon he spots a blueprint lay out. Scanning it reveals an emergency exit in the next room.

Dipper approaches the door and gives it a nudge. It won't open either.

Dipper inspects the door and to his disappointment, see's how to open it, "Security door. To open please insert 25 cents."

Dipper facepalms, "Of course. Just my luck."

Reluctantly, Dipper drops the quarter through the slot and sure enough the door opens. With a sigh he walks through. All that work only for the quarter to be used up.

He's about to climb out of the bunker until he notices something. Apparently, Ford and McGucket never finished the exit and all of the quarters they had used, including the one Dipper just did we're all sitting on the floor in a small pile near the slot.

"Okay then," says Dipper awkwardly as he walks over and grabs his quarter and a few extra ones.

"Note to self, always have a few quarters on you at all times from now on," he says to himself.

With his mission complete, Dipper climbs up the ladder and out of the bunker. Next stop, home.

The sun was already setting as Dipper pulled up to the Mystery Shack. The ice cream truck was long gone. He spotted Mabel laying on the sofa on the porch taking a napping.

"Hey Mabel, wake up," says Dipper shaking her.

Mabel gets up rubbing her eyes, "Oh, Dipper, where did you go," she asks.

"I was going after your quarter silly. See here it is," Dipper says handing it over to Mabel.

"Why'd it take you so long," she asks.

"Well I had to chase a few birds and get some help from a few people. You won't believe where I ended up? The bunker."

"Wow, you went through all that trouble for this quarter," she says.

"Well ya. I mean it was your last one and you needed to pay the ice cream man. Of course I was gonna. Where is he by the way," Dipper asks.

"Dipper. I tired to tell you but you ran off. Soos had a quarter and he gave it to me. The ice cream man's been long gone,"

Dipper facepalms himself. "So, where'd all the ice cream go," he says.

"Where do you think it went," says Mabel pointing to her stomach.

Dipper laughs, "Of course. I guess you and Soos must have had fun."

"Not even close. Let's just say I'm never gonna eat that much ice cream ever again. My stomach still hurts a bit," says Mabel.

Dipper laughs, "I told you not to get the chocolate swirl. And uh, what happened to my ice cream?"

"Oh, well you we're gone for so long that it started to melt. In the end I just gave it to Waddles so it wouldn't go to waste" Mabel says.

"Oh. I can't believe I wasted the whole day going after this one dumb quarter," says Dipper sitting down on the couch next to Mabel.

"Not to worry bro bro. I felt bad for you so Soos and I went into town and bought you a whole tub of vanilla ice cream. It's sitting in the freezer right now," says Mabel with a smile.

Dipper smiles back, "thanks Mabel," he says.

"No problem bro," says Mabel giving Dipper a hug.

"I think I'm gonna go inside and get some. You want any," he asks

"No thank you. I told you, I'm still feeling a bit sick," says Mabel.

"Oh, by the way, here's your quarter back," says Dipper.

"Nah, you keep it. You went through all that trouble for it. It's yours. Just spend it wisely I guess," says Mabel.

"You know, I think I know just what to spend this on," says Dipper.

He walks up to the Pitt Cola vending machine, drops the quarter into the slot and gets a Pitt cola.

"Here. This should help your stomach feel better," says Dipper giving Mabel the can.

"Thanks Dipper," Mabel says smiling back.

"No problem. I guess that quarter did end up going to good use after all," he replies before heading inside to get some ice cream.

Mabel opens the can up and takes a sip, "Yea, I guess it was," she says, starting to feel a lot better.

* * *

 **THE END**


End file.
